Props to Twitter

I have to admit I've been guarded (sometimes downright skeptical) of a lot of the newer 'social' platforms like Twitter, Facebook, etc. I personally love technology so I'm not usually that skeptical of this sort of thing. But since it's also my job to keep on top of all the latest developments in this field, I also get exposed to a steady flood of all these Web 2.0-ish companies every day. A few of them have potential and might actually succeed, but (from a business perspective anyway) so many of them are getting hyped to the N-th degree while lacking in any sustainable business model. So I find it hard to get too excited about their potential sometimes.

I can see the allure of Facebook even if I don't really use it all that much for myself. But like any portal-like interface, it tries to be good at a lot of things - which of course means it's not great at any one thing (and that's not always a bad thing.) I understand the apps, the extensibility, etc. But at the end of the day it's still really just a revamped version of MySpace for the time being.

That's why I do have to give a few overdue kudos to Twitter. I like to kid a few of my co-workers who use it regularly. But whereas Facebook is a jack of all trades and master of none, Twitter's extreme simplicity make it a wonderfully effective platform for its single purpose - short format posting and updates. Today for example I'm using it to follow the labor and delivery of my co-worker Matt and his wife Allyson.

Other people like to use Twitter to update their friends on what they're currently doing or thinking. A lot of the time I honestly don't see the purpose in a lot of these updates. But then again, one could say the same thing about this blog. ;)

My biggest beef with Twitter at this point is its lack of good servers. Yahoo or Google needs to just buy them out already (that's pretty much the real business model of all Web 2.0 companies it seems) so they can at least get better enterprise support. Like Facebook, I don't see myself ever using it much. But I can at least respect a good tool for what it is.

3 comments

Bayer said...

Yeah - I wasn't too keen on the Twitter thing either but it was awfully handy keeping up with Matt and Allyson yesterday.

Scott Schablow said...

If you used it more often you'd find more uses for it. For instance, I track 'experts' in my industry. They scan the web for the newest and best and post it in Twitter. By following their posts I have access to breaking information without all the research time.

KeithB said...

I guess it depends on what you define "use" as. I don't personally use Twitter for my own updates. But I already track several people's Twitter feeds via RSS. So in that sense, I already use it regularly. I also track a lot of experts in my field via Twitter. However, since we're in marketing, most of them are simply using their Twitter feed as another vehicle to drive people to their main blog . . . which I already subscribe to. Those wacky marketing folks.

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